The Trump Presidency 2.0
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Box
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Day number 14 of the government "shutdown" - and apparently no end in site.
Our selected representatives are giving the entire world a masterclass on societal priorities.
On one hand, we have federal employees wondering if they'll be able to afford to pay their bills and buy groceries before this is over with.
On the other, we have spiteful partisan debates about using invisible taxpayer dollars to fund healthcare benefits to illegal aliens.
Clearly, nothing screams 'we’ve got this under control' like shutting down the government while simultaneously trying to expand benefits to people who aren’t even citizens. Nothing screams "american government is bullshit" louder than watching news reports of such comically important topics as It’s like watching someone argue over who gets the last slice of cake while the house is on fire.
Bravo, congress. Thank you for your bold shining example of American exceptionalism.
Fuck you very much, and good day.
Our selected representatives are giving the entire world a masterclass on societal priorities.
On one hand, we have federal employees wondering if they'll be able to afford to pay their bills and buy groceries before this is over with.
On the other, we have spiteful partisan debates about using invisible taxpayer dollars to fund healthcare benefits to illegal aliens.
Clearly, nothing screams 'we’ve got this under control' like shutting down the government while simultaneously trying to expand benefits to people who aren’t even citizens. Nothing screams "american government is bullshit" louder than watching news reports of such comically important topics as It’s like watching someone argue over who gets the last slice of cake while the house is on fire.
Bravo, congress. Thank you for your bold shining example of American exceptionalism.
Fuck you very much, and good day.
Speaking of "potentially questionable priorities," we're running into a situation where troops might not get fed, but a corporation with deep pockets is bankrolling the travel and lodging expenses for senior leaders to go to a trade show:
https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/09/politics/army-million-dollar-donation-conference-government-shutdown
Standard Foreign Military Sales contract.
New plane; so we sell the planes, spare parts, initial and recurring training. This isn't a generic flight school, it is specific to this airframe.
Qatar is a small country, with no decent airspace to train in, so we agree to do it in the US (Singapore has a similar airframe, and train their "Strike Eagle" pilots in the US (Mountain Home AFB IIRC).
Train them how to fly and employ the weapons (My guess is contractors).
Lots of training space in the Western US (Nellis Range for example).
I went to DC this week--definitely not for AUSA, which I'm not allowed to attend because of "optics"--and saw/met some... "interesting" people.
I decided to take the train in, which was something I've never done before, because I wanted to be able to practice my speech and didn't feel like driving through the nor'easter we were expecting.
I got off the train at Union Station in downtown DC yesterday afternoon. When I was outside waiting for my Uber, I saw a woman walking up and down the sidewalk with what looked like a Trump flag. "Wow, that's bold, in D.C."
Nope.
As she got closer, I could see it was a Trump flag modified to say "FUCK TRUMP."
Not bold after all. In fact, it was the easiest, most obvious, most boring thing ever.
She was walking up and down the sidewalk, outside in the rain, and everyone around her was completely oblivious. I also noticed she had a small cardboard sign that said "fuel the flag," which I assume was her grift. I'm sure there was a QR code or CashApp or something where people could give her money.
That's fine, you keep on protesting for pennies It looks like you need the steps anyway. You keep getting soaked in the rain with your meaningless gestures and your meaningless flags and signs. I'm going to be over here, with the people who are #WINNING.
This morning, I was back at Union Station. LOTS of homeless people and clearly mentally disturbed people. I watched an older, barefoot homeless woman wearing a thin nightgown talk another woman into buying her breakfast at Wendy's. She insisted on getting the largest soda possible.
As I was eating breakfast, a man in his late 20s or early 30s came over to me. "Hey were you in the Army?" He was black, had dreadlocks, was wearing mirrored sunglasses indoors, and had on shorts and a white tank top. The top of what was clearly a pentagram on a necklace he was wearing poked out from the top of his tank top. I was on alert and not sure where this conversation was going to go. We had a short conversation, at the end of which he took off his sunglasses and looked straight into my eyes before we shook hands and he walked away. As he walked away I noticed he was holding one of his hands down at his side in the "hook 'em horns" (AKA the "devil's horns") position. I wondered if he cast a hex on me or something. Weird.
I decided to take the train in, which was something I've never done before, because I wanted to be able to practice my speech and didn't feel like driving through the nor'easter we were expecting.
I got off the train at Union Station in downtown DC yesterday afternoon. When I was outside waiting for my Uber, I saw a woman walking up and down the sidewalk with what looked like a Trump flag. "Wow, that's bold, in D.C."
Nope.
As she got closer, I could see it was a Trump flag modified to say "FUCK TRUMP."
Not bold after all. In fact, it was the easiest, most obvious, most boring thing ever.
She was walking up and down the sidewalk, outside in the rain, and everyone around her was completely oblivious. I also noticed she had a small cardboard sign that said "fuel the flag," which I assume was her grift. I'm sure there was a QR code or CashApp or something where people could give her money.
That's fine, you keep on protesting for pennies It looks like you need the steps anyway. You keep getting soaked in the rain with your meaningless gestures and your meaningless flags and signs. I'm going to be over here, with the people who are #WINNING.
This morning, I was back at Union Station. LOTS of homeless people and clearly mentally disturbed people. I watched an older, barefoot homeless woman wearing a thin nightgown talk another woman into buying her breakfast at Wendy's. She insisted on getting the largest soda possible.
As I was eating breakfast, a man in his late 20s or early 30s came over to me. "Hey were you in the Army?" He was black, had dreadlocks, was wearing mirrored sunglasses indoors, and had on shorts and a white tank top. The top of what was clearly a pentagram on a necklace he was wearing poked out from the top of his tank top. I was on alert and not sure where this conversation was going to go. We had a short conversation, at the end of which he took off his sunglasses and looked straight into my eyes before we shook hands and he walked away. As he walked away I noticed he was holding one of his hands down at his side in the "hook 'em horns" (AKA the "devil's horns") position. I wondered if he cast a hex on me or something. Weird.
Box
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Even more questionable is the TRUE level of respect that I might be willing to extend to those senior leaders that accept it.
Nothing is too good for the troops - and that's ALL that those greedy little mother fuckers are gonna get.
Besides, John Kerry said it best, if these "me, me, me" service members had gotten an education instead of joining the military, they wouldn't be in this predicament to begin with.
Volunteer force and all that jazz...
Silly service members -
Can't blame AUSA, money lost by canceling the convention would be huge.
Funding GO travel is less of a hit.
Box
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Maybe they should use those millions of dollars in expendable income to pay their lobbyists to press congress for a solution instead of making sure that nothing ruins their military frat boy party....
Then again, I'm biased and jaded - I've thought AUSA was complete bullshit since PV2 Box started getting bullied by his 1SG into donating money to AUSA.
Of course, he's probably the only "leader" in the US Army to ever do that though.
I gotta say - AUSA can go kick rocks with their bullshit conference - something something optics and all that jazz.
Then again, I'm biased and jaded - I've thought AUSA was complete bullshit since PV2 Box started getting bullied by his 1SG into donating money to AUSA.
Of course, he's probably the only "leader" in the US Army to ever do that though.
I gotta say - AUSA can go kick rocks with their bullshit conference - something something optics and all that jazz.
"optics"
Florida173
SOF Support
I don't feel like digging, but I think Luke does/ did the same for F-16's and now F-35's. We do it for Aussie P-8 crews at NAS Jax, we probably do the same for F-18 buyers at Oceana or Lemoore. We haven't touched on follow on .GOV and .CTR support for those programs.
This Qatari deal is yet another example of "informed" people getting spun up over something we've done for years out in the open. NOW they want to show up to the party and get all big mad and everything.
Wait until they find out the JSF office will NEVER shut down regardless of the budget situation. That thing is funded through 2100 or something and if it runs out of money they will steal it from another program. Seriously.
I'm funded through Nov. 30th and know folks funded to February. Our contractors are going to be in a weird position soon where they are being paid to not work because the Gov engineers and money folks are sitting at home.
ThunderHorse
Verified Military
More so a question of why a separate school, I know that we educate foreign officers and NCOs in our PME. The Army trains Saudi Black Hawk pilots at the regular flight school at 'ol Rucker. There were 8 IMOs in my ABOLC class. Some outstanding, some barely had a pulse.
Could be a number of reasons. I got off my ass and Seymour Johnson in NC as the F-15E FTU. Mountain Home as mentioned earlier hosts Singapore's F-15 FTU. Could be a variety of reasons they put this in ID, ramp space at SJ being one of them. When the Navy shut down Cecil Field in the 90's it sent a few F/A-18 squadrons to MCAS Beaufort because they didn't have the facilities at Oceana. The Qataris may have wanted the space, they are dicks like that, so their requirements could have precluded going to SJ. More range opportunities as DA SWO posted. No telling.
Besides, this is old news. People are getting worked up over something going back years.
Air Force documents show Qatari training base at Mountain Home has been years in the making
But the cost to 'Merica!
2021? Sleepy Joe strikes again!
Is Qatar Getting an Idaho Air Base? Not Exactly.
What we need to remember is the Qataris are trash and that's the key problem here, but one that will neither change nor go away nor even break new ground. I want to hear the stories of them trying to ban pork products on base like they did on a MFF trainup to CA years ago. Or maybe it was AZ, I forget.
Devildoc
Verified Military
I keep forgetting how liberal an hour outside of Boise, ID can be...
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